Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. Whether or not that goal can be reached, we'll see... This is The 365 Project, 1 February.

Disclaimer: "Smallville" is the property of Warner Brothers Entertainment and DC Comics and is used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

During his training with Jor-El, Clark-Smallville fights Superboy-Prime who is out to kill all the other Superboys and Supermen so that he can be the only 'true' Superman... But, Prime's presence on Earth-Smallville has an unforeseen side effect - Alicia Baker returns from the dead.

"Primed"
By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'

Unknown Location
The Arctic Circle
Earth-Smallville

The battle had raged on for hours in the middle of the Arctic snow. It had begun during a break in his training when Clark Kent had went out into the Arctic to relax himself and had been set upon by another Clark, wearing a blue jumpsuit with the House of El symbol on the chest. At first, Clark had thought it was another one of Jor-El's 'trials', but that suspicion had faded when the doppelganger had made a grim declaration.

"I am Superboy Prime," hovering above the ice with his arms crossed over his chest, the doppelganger had announced, "And I will be Superman, even if I have to be the only one left alive who can be!"

Despite the similarities, and there were many, Clark had quickly found himself outmatched by 'Prime', who had powers beyond what Clark possessed and no qualms about using them in lethal manners. Only the fact that Clark was as Kryptonian as Prime had allowed Clark to last against his opponent and the battle had raged on for hours in the middle of the Arctic snow.

"Not bad," Prime said between punches that Clark deflected with arms that were beginning to bruise despite the yellow sun above, "For a pathetic imitation."

"I don't know what your problem is," Clark retorted with gritted teeth, "But there's no point in taking it out on me!"

"You are my problem!" Prime shouted, flecks of spittle spraying into Clark's face, "All of you who take your destinies for granted while I've been denied mine! You're all the problem, but I'm the solution!"

This time, the punch got through and caused Clark's head to jerk backwards and his body to follow.

Smallville Cemetary
Smallville, Kansas,
United States of America,
Earth-Smallville
At The Same Time.

In the shadow of a tombstone, deep under the earth, life stirred and as though an omen, the tombstone itself shattered untouched by outside forces, the date of death was completely destroyed and only one piece of stone remained intact enough to read what had been carved into it;

Alicia Baker.

Deep under the earth, life stirred and Alica awoke with a scream. There was only one solid thought she could form and she cried it out...

"Clark!"

Despite not knowing where he was, her powers took over and she vanished from the casket in a shimmer of green light.

Unknown Location
The Arctic Circle
Earth-Smallville

When Alicia reappeared, she didn't know where she was or what happened, she remembered dying and then waking up and now appearing in the middle of a cold snowfield on her knees as she looked around. It took her a moment to realise that she wasn't seeing things, she really did see two Clarks and one of them had been knocked to the ground with the other raising up a fist.

"For what it's worth," the second Clark pronounced, "I'm sorry this has to happen... but I will not be denied my destiny."

Alicia didn't know what was going on, but she knew by the tone that the standing Clark wasn't 'her' Clark and if something didn't stop him, he was going to kill the one who might be 'her's'. She didn't know any way to use her teleporting abilities offensively, but she did have one weapon. Plunging her hand down into the snow, she scooped... rolled... and threw.

Prime was about to bring his fist crashing down upon Clark's head when he felt the impact and wetness of something hitting him in the back of the head, causing him to turn and snarl at the blonde girl kneeling in the snow.

"You'd attack the one true Superman to save this weakling?" Prime snarled, "Since you care for him so much, you can share his fate, then."

Clark looked past Prime and it took him a moment to realise that he wasn't seeing things, Alica was there, Alicia was alive, she was alive and she was there. Alicia was there and Clark had a chance to do what he hadn't been there to do before her death.

"Keep your damned hands off her," Clark swore, lancing out with his heat vision and not lessening the force behind it even as he climbed back to his feet.

Prime turned back to face him. It was a mistake as Clark refused to let up, refused to fail, refused to fail her again. Clark Kent, for all his Kryptonian biology, was human with human love and human anger and he was directing all that anger at the other Kryptonian. Prime screamed as he felt the mostly-water vitreous humor in his eyes begin to boil as Clark's heat vision burned into Prime's eyes. Finally, the pain was too much, even for the crazed Kryptonian and Prime collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"It's over, Prime," Clark announced, breathing heavily.

At that point, there was a strange sound as another figure faded into view next to the fallen Kryptonian and shook their head, "It certainly is over... finally..."

Kneeling down beside him, the figure raised Prime's arm and locked a gauntlet around it with a sharp clicking sound. Somehow, just the sight of it made Alicia nervous, so nervous that she teleported herself right next to Clark and threw her arms around his neck, causing him to react by wrapping his own arms around her. She didn't know why it did, but the gauntlet that had just been put on Prime gave her a bad feeling, a feeling that somehow reminded her of the lead-injection bracelet she had to wear. Alicia would never know that the feeling was understandable since the gauntlet worked in a similar way, only injecting trace amounts of Kryptonite - enough to leave him weakened and powerless but not enough to be lethal - into Prime's bloodstream.

"Alicia," Clark said softly, as though speaking too loud would ruin the moment and cause her to disappear, "You're alive."

"I know," Alicia wiped her eyes on his jacket, "I just don't know how."

"Side-effect of how Prime travels through a reality barrier," the newcomer explained as they stood up and turned to face the couple, "Things like this happen when Superboy Prime punches reality. It's not the first time someone's come back to life like this, really. "

Wrapping his arms tighter around Alicia, Clark demanded an answer to another question, "Who are you?"

The newcomer smiled, "Oh, the responses I have for that question... Suffice to say that I'm not unlike Prime in a way - a metahuman from a world without superpowers."

"How is that possible?" Alicia asked carefully.

"I have an ability known as the 'Fox Effect', my mind is capable of 'tuning into' other realities," He explained, "I typically go by the psuedonym 'The Author' because I transcribe what I see into stories I share with others. In recent years, I've come in contact with others throughout the All that share my ability and work together to observe, record, and in times of great crisis, assist if need be. Lately, I've been 'tuned into' variations of your world, Clark and Alicia, which is why I was sent to retrieve Prime as that made it easier for me to cross into your world than it would have been for others."

Clark wasn't sure he liked that answer, it made him suspicious and he glanced down at Prime, "What will happen to him?"

"He's already escaped two different containments and has no remorse for the deaths and destruction he's caused, even removing his powers wouldn't change his personality," The Author shook his head, "I hate to say it, but I have to guess it will be a permanent solution, if you know what I mean."

Clark fumed at that, releasing Alicia and taking a step forward in an attempt to impose himself between 'The Author' and Prime, "How can you-"

"Clark," Alica put her hand on his shoulder, "I want you to stop and think about this; if this were anyone else, would you feel the same way or is it just because he's another Clark Kent?"

Clark looked at her as she stepped up beside him, "He's talking about murder!"

"If Lois hadn't stopped you, would you have killed Tim?" Alicia asked, causing Clark to take a step back and pull away from her hand.

"That's different," Clark answered.

"Yes, it is," Alica agreed, "Because he killed one person close to you and Prime has killed what?"

"Directly and indirectly? Millions, if not billions or more," The Author supplied.

"Prime has killed millions of people you don't know," Alicia continued, "Did he get a trial?"

"Tried by Justice Leagues, Societies and Guilds across the All, especially the Supermen, 'women, 'boys and 'girls," The Author answered, "Prime's sentence was the first time I can recall of Kryptonians and the Guardians of Oa being in agreement on a subject."

"In other words," Alicia folded her arms, "You're kinda saying that one person you know is more important than any number of people you don't, Clark."

The words cut through Clark's rightous anger and he visibly deflated, "In other words, either I'm selfish or uncaring, great..."

Alicia looked at The Author curiously, "Is he always like this?"

The Author thought for a moment, "Typically, yes - there's a few exceptions.. such as..."

The Author kicked the unconscious Prime before continuing, "But in general, Clark Kent typically falls somewhere between rightously angry on behalf of others or self-punishing for everything that goes wrong in his general vicinity."

"So what happens to me?" Alicia asked.

"Well," The Author sighed, "Prime's being here in the first place created a divergent reality. Now, normally with his defeat, it would simple end up folding back into the main reality for this world after a while with no further divergences... but with everything that's happened as a result of his presence, I think this reality is going to continue diverging, so there's really no point in trying to contain the changes..."

The Author smirked and shrugged, gesturing towards Clark, "Congratulations, he's all yours. I'll probably end up 'tuning into' the wedding."

"Just stay away from the wedding night," Alica growled, causing Clark to blush and The Author to chuckle.

"I think I can do that," The Author agreed.

"So, how do we explain this?" Clark asked, trying to regain his normal coloration.

If anything, that question only made The Author chuckle harder, "You'll have to figure that one out for yourselves - I'm a 'watcher' and a writer, not a miracle worker."

Reaching down, The Author grabbed Prime's collar and looked up at the sky, "Ready to go."

Before anything else could be said, both Prime and The Author had faded out of sight.

Clark looked at the now-empty space the two dimension-travellers had occupied and shook his head, "I've got this strange feeling I'm going to grow to hate it when people just disappear like that..."

"Bet I can give you other feelings to think about," Alicia teased him, enjoying it as Clark's face turned red again.

"I, uh," Clark stammered as Alicia wrapped her arms back around his neck, "I think we need to figure out how we're going to explain you coming back to life, don't we?"

"Shut up and kiss me, Clark," Alicia told him, "And we'll worry about that later."

All things considered, there was only one reasonable thing for Clark to do at this point; putting his hands on her hips, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.